IRCHE 2017 4th International Research Conference on Higher Education Volume 2018

Conference Paper Corruption Prevention in State Colleges and Universities Eugenio Ferrer Santiago III Graft Prevention and Control Officer/Part Time Instructor/PhD Development Studies Student Office of the Ombudsman/PUP Manila/DLSU Manila

Abstract Corruption is everywhere and even government-run institutions of higher learning are not spared from such dilemma. Corruption inside State Universities and Colleges might be thought to be the small time or less impact problem in governance compared to other government entities amassing hard-earned people’s taxes, but the fact that schools are the second home of knowledge and values of an individual, therefore, graft and corruption values (inherited, observed or adapted) must first be cut within its grooming point. The study shall focus on how some government-run Corresponding Author: Eugenio Ferrer Santiago III institutions of higher learning addressed the long standing deep rooted ill of society eugenio_santiagoiii@ – corruption in their doorsteps. A review of policies and current practices in their dlsu.edu.ph fight of corruption of at least three to four government-run institutions of higher Received: 23 April 2018 learning shall be showcased in this study. The results of the study shall be awareness Accepted: 8 May 2018 and formalization of this infant field in Philippine Governance System and Public Published: 4 June 2018 Administration encompassing different tools like internal auditing, systems studies, Publishing services provided by monitoring of government resources utilization, corruption prevention promotion and Knowledge E education drive, integrity systems check, corruption vulnerability assessments, red Eugenio Ferrer Santiago III. This article is distributed tape assessment, and the like. A conclusion formulated that corruption prevention under the terms of the Creative should be embraced in all government entities especially in State Universities and Commons Attribution License, Colleges, shifting from the old thought that we react after perpetrators of graft which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that and corruption had amassed national wealth — preventing them doing such, by the original author and source formulating ways to put in place integrity systems and promoting the culture of good are credited. governance for all time. Selection and Peer-review under the responsibility of the IRCHE Keywords: Anti-Corruption, Corruption Prevention, Integrity System, Good 2017 Conference Committee. Governance, Public Administration

1. Introduction

Corruption is everywhere. Corruption Prevention in State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), is there such a thing? Corruption thrives in any given situation, whether

How to cite this article: Eugenio Ferrer Santiago III, (2018), “Corruption Prevention in State Colleges and Universities” in 4th International Research Page 446 Conference on Higher Education, KnE Social Sciences, pages 446–468. DOI 10.18502/kss.v3i6.2398 IRCHE 2017

small/large scale corruption it’s the same, impact varies, effect differs, and those affected are the same. Corruption in governance reflects how the Philippine Govern- ment counteracts the ill effects of corruption at its doorsteps. Is there such thing as absorbed corruption? Is being corrupt a trait, a value, a norm, a culture that a person understands it unknowingly and then all of a sudden, he commits the act of large scale or massive theft in the government coffers. Is corruption a specialized skill, a learned thing, a specialized field? Corruption Prevention practice aims to dispel the curse of corruption in the society especially in civil service. This is now the era where government resources should be focused on research, learn how to mitigate and later on eradicate corruption by instituting reforms, policy and controls. We must be proactive and leave the thought of the “reactive side”. A healthy governance system can lead to a sustainable community as envisioned by treaties and conventions on development of the society and the world as a whole. Corruption Prevention is a very young term used in the Philippine Governance Sys- tem which promises a more sustainable solution to fight corruption. In a long line of jurisprudence in the area of public accountability, it has been the practice that government anti-corruption crusaders run after culprits, after the latter, had amassed a large amount of government funds; a whistle-blower “blows” out information in an illegal government transaction, or a recurrence of a complaint in the same government frontline service. The preparation and the long legal process of fighting individuals committing such infraction of law on public accountability, is evident, and sometimes the art of legal battle among seasoned lawyers now becomes the subject of the issue and not the illegal act that should be corrected and never again be emulated. Corrup- tion prevention practice in government envisions preventing corruption in happening by means of instituting concrete and implementable control and preventive policies in government processes through the use of an extensive research/corruption prevention audit tool/s. The dilemma of this infant specialization in the fight of corruption is the lack of acceptance and internalization of the value of corruption prevention in government organizations presumably due to want for information or just getting tired of thinking that there still hope in fighting corruption. “Leadership by example”, “Setting the tone at the top” and other good governance principles for the leaders in government is the heart and soul of a corruption prevention audit tool. It is in the hands of the head of such government agency to implement a policy to prevent corruption at its door step. Now, the run of a corruption prevention audit tool can be voluntary or mandatory due to an executive order issued by the Aquino administration.

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The Duterte Administration’s rearing towards federal government [1, 2] making the would-be “federal states/subdivisions” more independent in their governance and making them prone to a lot of political discretions which may redound to more chances of graft and corruption, shall be the scenario, if corruption prevention atmosphere or culture will not be enthralled to the systems in place. The author, in his more than a decade practice in a government agency specializing in the anti-corruption, believes that there are now three theories involving Anti-Corruption studies in the Philippines. These are:

1. Theory of Corruption Studies. This body of knowledge focuses on the root causes of corruption, culture of corruption and case studies on corruption antecedents in public service. A wide and variety of articles, local and abroad, are available, since experts who have already ventured into this field are most of the time political scientists, psychologists/psychiatrists, anthropologists, historians or even sociol- ogists who try to explain why there are incidents of corruption, why a person engages in such an act. This is the baseline study for all anti-corruption studies;

2. Theory of Corruption Prevention Studies is the friendly approach to ease the pain of the term “graft and corruption act or practice” The author believes that cor- ruption prevention is the encompassing field covering internal auditing, making agency analysis framework, systems study, red tape assessments, corruption resistance review, corruption vulnerability assessments, integrity systems check, documentation of good governance practice, monitoring and evaluation of good governance practices, corruption risk ratings, corruption prevention awareness campaign/drive and coordination activities. This body of knowledge can be for social science researchers and public administrators, since their involvement and practice are into government systems and procedures. The institution of recom- mendation policies at an immediate time controls and prevents corruption from happening;

3. Theory Punitive and Correctional Studies is the tooth and fangs aspect of fighting corruption. This field studies procedural aspects of conducting investigation and prosecuting perpetrators of graft and corruption, recovery of ill-gotten wealth and others. This body of knowledge can be practiced by criminologists, lawyers and penal institution enforcers.

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2. Objectives of the Study

• Start awareness among the Academic Community the value of this infant spe- cialization in public administration.

• Create impact to researchers to venture into the study of the Corruption Preven- tion in Philippine Governance System (National/Local).

• Instill the value of corruption prevention amongst the Top Officials and Middle Managers of State Universities and Colleges to institutionalize the practice of corruption prevention.

• Invite insights and fresh/new developments presently done or accomplishments in the area of corruption prevention practice in State Colleges and Universities

3. Problem Statement

• How does SUCs conduct their fight against corruption and promote transparency in institutional administration that their students shall emulate when they grad- uate from such SUCs.

4. Materials and Methods

The methodology of this research is Exploratory Research going Qualitative Research with Survey. Exploratory research is research conducted for a problem that has not been studied more clearly, establishes priorities, develops operational definitions and improve the final research design. Studies on Corruption Prevention practice have not yet gone to a formal or specialized field in public administration. A start-up, initiatory, preliminary, baseline research to provide awareness in this actual practice in some government agencies and the future mandate of a law shall prepare public admin- istration executives and researchers to build up a body of knowledge on reviewing systems and instituting reforms Exploratory research helps determine the best research design, data-collection method and selection of subjects. It should draw definitive conclusions only with extreme caution. Given its fundamental nature, exploratory research often concludes that a perceived problem does not actually exist. Exploratory research often relies on techniques such as:

1. secondary research - such as reviewing available literature and/or data

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2. informal qualitative approaches, such as discussions with consumers, employees, management or competitors

3. formal qualitative research through in-depth interviews, focus groups, projective methods, case studies or pilot studies [3]

This study shall:

• Indicate existing laws against corruption applicable to State Universities and Colleges (SUCs).

• Update interview of the key focal persons in good governance to the six NCR SUCs indicated in the list of beneficiaries of the University Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) law

• Review of the existing interface modality to external and internal stakeholders of the good governance initiatives of the NCR SUCs indicated in the list of ben- eficiaries of the UniFAST law

• Sample: six NCR SUCs indicated in the list of beneficiaries of the UniFAST law

• Sampling method: regional and categorical – NCR Universities particularly:

1. University of the Philippines System;

2. Polytechnic University of the Philippines;

3. Philippine Normal University;

4. Technological University of the Philippines;

5. Rizal Technological University; and

6. Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology [4]

The above state universities and colleges (SUCs) are all situated in the National Capital Region and identified by the Commission on Higher Education as the top priority SUCs recipient of funds of the newly legislated law the University Financial Assistance for Tertiary Education (UniFAsT). The constitution provides that the State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels, and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all [5]. Further, the same basic law of the Philippines mandates that, the State shall:

1. Establish, maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people and society;

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2. Establish and maintain, a system of free public education in the elementary and high school levels. Without limiting the natural rights of parents to rear their children, elementary education is compulsory for all children of school age;

3. Establish and maintain a system of scholarship grants, student loan programs, subsidies, and other incentives which shall be available to deserving students in both public and private schools, especially to the under-privileged; [6]

Sometime in March of 2017, Republic Act No. 10647, UniFAST as its alternative law name, provides for institutionalization of a tuition-free policy in all SUCs through the establishment of a SUC Tuition Subsidy Fund. The fund would be administered by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), with an initial allocation of Php 15 billion. SUCs could then use such allocation to make up for the tuition fee costs. All Filipinos students who meet the admission requirements for Bachelor’s or other undergraduate degrees for SUCs are eligible for free tuition. The law aside from the subsidies for SUCs, amendments introduced by Senator Ralph Recto also provides for tuition subsidies in private higher educational institutions and technical vocational institutions through additional student financial assistance programs [7]. Rappler’s web news article mentions that the country’s economic managers said that the proposed tuition-free policy in State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) will benefit largely the non-poor students. They said that in 2014, only 12% of the students attending SUCs belong to the bottom 20% of the family income classification based on Annual Poverty Indicators Survey. An effect of the across the board tuition free policy shall have an adverse implications such as an exodus of students from private higher education institutions (HEIs) to SUCs which would eventually affect the overall quality of Filipino graduates given that “a number of private HEIs perform better than SUCs”. Further economic managers said that full funding of the UniFAsT has other advan- tages over the tuition-free policy, including a clear delineation among its 3 modes of financial assistance, in terms of: 1) objectives and target beneficiaries; 2) applicability in both SUCs and private HEIs; 3) test based eligibility requirement; 4) adherence to the acceptable standards of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). On the end note economic managers said that the government should implement its mandate of promoting quality and accessible education within the limits of fiscal prudence, and with the use of appropriate tools and targeting mechanisms [8].

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4.1. Theoretical framework

The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels, and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all [5]. Given the importance of tertiary education in promoting human development and improving the economy‘s competitiveness, the state universities and colleges (SUCs) in the Philippines have always faced issues on the quality of education, management, and access [10]. In 1990 the first Human Development Report introduced a new approach for advanc- ing human wellbeing. Human development – or the human development approach - is about expanding the richness of human life, rather than simply the richness of the economy in which human beings live. It is an approach that is focused on people and their opportunities and choices. Human Development as defined by the United Nations is the expansion of people’s freedoms to live long, healthy and creative lives; to advance other goals they have reason to value; and to engage actively in shaping development equitably and sustainably on a shared planet. People are both the beneficiaries and drivers of human development, as individuals and in groups. It focuses on improving the lives people lead rather than assuming that economic growth will lead, automatically, to greater wellbeing for all. Income growth is seen as a means to development, rather than an end in itself. It is about giving people more freedom to live lives they value. In effect this means developing people’s abilities and giving them a chance to use them. For example, educating a girl would build her skills, but it is of little use if she is denied access to jobs, or does not have the right skills for the local labour market. Three foundations for human development are to live a long, healthy and creative life, to be knowledgeable, and to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living. Many other things are important too, especially in helping to create the right conditions for human development, and some of these are in the table below. Once the basics of human development are achieved, they open up opportunities for progress in other aspects of life [11]. Effective public administration contributes to human development by educating the citizens of the State. Good governance practices in managing SUCs, as the State’s arm in providing the best tertiary education to future nation-builders, should proliferate and be emanated by other SUCs through formal research of such, publication and dissemination. The New Public Management as defined is an approach to running public service organizations that is used in government and public service institutions and agencies, at both sub-national and national levels. The term was first introduced by

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academics in the UK and Australia to describe approaches that were developed during the 1980s as part of an effort to make the public service more ”businesslike” and to improve its efficiency by using private sector management models [12]. As with the private sector, which focuses on ”customer service”, NPM reforms often focused on the ”...centrality of citizens who were the recipient of the services or customers to the public sector.” NPM reformers experimented with using decentralized service delivery models, to give local agencies more freedom in how they delivered programs or ser- vices. In some cases, NPM reforms that used e-government consolidated a program or service to a central location to reduce costs. Through corruption prevention by instituting integrity systems in policies in the three variables: leadership, procurement system and human resource management system that composed the “effective institutional public administration” implementation there should be monitoring and feedback system.

4.2. Conceptual framework

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework.

Independent variable is the total effect of institution of Integrity Systems and inter- nalizing the culture of Corruption Prevention Practice which is “effective institutional public administration with the variables within such circle. Even though there will always be an effect to “effective institutional public administration” external factors like, political personalities, allocation and release of SUC budget, government policies, private entity engagements, international academic community, etc.

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Dependent variable is the quality integrity graduates and professional to the inde- pendent variable “effective institutional public administration” of the SUC since, insti- tutions may reinforce and reactivate good values, norms, culture, etc. in a classroom setting but what is practiced within the walls of these institutions are patent disregard of the positive values, norms, culture, etc. - what shall be internalize and adapted by the students is the culture of corruption that they have experienced while students to such institution. Human Development shall not be totally achieved even though plain training for the knowledge, skill and wit was obtained but the love for country, love for others, love for environment, and removal of self interests as good traits of future nation-builders are not realized by the SUC as its paramount aim to its existence “SUCs is the home of human development”

4.3. Definition of terms

• Corruption: is a form of dishonest or unethical conduct by a person entrusted with a position of authority, often to acquire personal benefit. Two kinds: Grand Corruption – corruption, usually syndicated, often involving large sums of money, which negatively impacts the whole country or the legitimacy of the government; Petty Corruption – street-level, everyday corruption which occurs when citizens participate in corruption activities and transactions with low- to mid-level public officials in places like hospitals, schools, police department, and other bureaucratic agencies where the scale of transactions is small and primarily impacts only the official.

• Corruption Prevention - is the encompassing field covering internal auditing, making agency analysis framework, systems study, red tape assessments, cor- ruption resistance review, corruption vulnerability assessments, integrity sys- tems check, documentation of good governance practice, monitoring and eval- uation of good governance practices, corruption risk ratings, corruption preven- tion awareness campaign/drive and coordination activities. This body of knowl- edge can be for social science researchers and public administrators, since their involvement and practice are into government systems and procedures. The institution of recommendation policies at an immediate time controls and pre- vents corruption from happening.

• Integrity Systems. These are policies, programs and systems that provide an enabling environment for integrity management in an organization or institution.

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These are responses of public sector institutions to address issues, vulnerabilities and concerns, and may come in the form of a set of policies, systems, and programs to operationalize the well-identified integrity values, principles and standards.

• Corruption Prevention Audit Tools. Used to conduct corruption prevention ini- tiatives and integrity check of the systems of a government office/agency/ instrumentality/SUC/local government unit.

• Citizen’s Charter - To promote transparency in the government with regard to the manner of transacting with the public through the simplification of frontline service procedures, formulation of service standards for every transaction, and making these known to the customer.

• Integrity – the faithful and consistent application of generally accepted public values and norms in the daily practice of public sector institutions; the proper use of powers, authorities, assets, resources and funds according to the official purpose for which they are intended, with the end in view of promoting public welfare.

• Philippine Transparency Seal - A pearl buried inside a tightly-shut shell is practi- cally worthless. Government information is a pearl, meant to be shared with the public in order to maximize its inherent value. The Transparency Seal, depicted by a pearl shining out of an open shell, is a symbol of a policy shift towards openness in access to government information. On the one hand, it hopes to inspire Filipinos in the civil service to be more open to citizen engagement; on the other, to invite the Filipino citizenry to exercise their right to participate in governance. This initiative is envisioned as a step in the right direction towards solidifying the position of the Philippines as the Pearl of the Orient – a shining example for democratic virtue in the region.

• Leadership – is a management style or a way the top managers does and impresses his/her role in the organization

• Procurement System – total procedures, laws, rules and regulation in the buying of goods and services in a government office/agency/instrumentality/SUC/local government unit. This should include proper planning, wise spending and cost efficiency without sacrificing the quality standards of the goods and services bought for the benefit of the internal and external users in a government

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office/agency/instrumentality/SUC/local government unit. The feeling of safe- guarding the tax payers money whenever there’s procurement should be the paramount role of government procurement people.

• Human Resource Management System (HRMS) – the total system of recruit- ment, promotion, compensation and benefits, training, rewards and sanctions and other personnel and human resource function integrated to a one policy and used IT tools for efficiency and effectiveness.

Home, Family and the Higher Education Institutions ”Home is the best learning place for an individual”, it is the place where the foun- dation of values, knowledge and wisdom flows to the deepest being of every person. If foundation values, knowledge and wisdom are not obtained from the home of an individual, comes now the role of the school, to provide these things for such rational being. Reality shows that a person usually spends most of his early years in schools and it is but evident that, the person under its care, absorbs the school’s foundation values, knowledge and wisdom. Home and school are places - they can be juridical persons represented by natural persons that should reflect the mission and vision of such entity. Environment or simply the surroundings of the home and school affect its foundation values, knowledge and wisdom. If these entities, shall not be safeguarded against the realities of the practical world of ”survival of the fittest” (in general view - ”a value in the animal kingdom”) and neglecting its foundation values, knowledge and wisdom, then what shall be imparted to persons under the care of homes and schools shall not be the latter but the former. Homes usually give the entire full trust and confidence to schools for the devel- opment of its members, the future of the State and the biggest and important asset of society, the youth. The management of schools and higher educational institutions must be anchored with the highest degree of extraordinary diligence. An over and exaggerated expectation, but such, should be achieve in order to produce a society every State dreamed of. Human development connected to Human Security are started in schools and higher educational institutions, as individuals’ journey to their life long desire for learning and development. Academic Freedom Right will always be paramount in any school and higher edu- cational institutions, but its abuse, shall always be evident to those entities that have been affected by the practical world view and forgets to live its foundation values, knowledge and wisdom. If management of schools and higher educational institutions

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will be impressed applying the principle of highest degree of extraordinary diligence, it will always be employing tools to make their operations efficient and effective. Internalization of the value of corruption prevention practice in the management of State-funded higher educational institutions focuses on making operations processes and its procedures more efficient and effective, at the same time impressed with the trademark ”corruption-free”. Academic Freedom right will always find its prima racio of not being restrained for continuous learning and development of oneself and others because those within the walls of higher educational institutions are persons who are competent and rationale beings due to an integrity human resource management system that encompasses recruitment, selection, promotion, compensation, etc. of such entity. The book The Fall of the Ivory Tower: Government Funding, Corruption and the Bankrupt- ing of American Higher Education, by George Roche, mentioned that schools, universities and colleges are composed of individuals coming from different backgrounds, motiva- tions, cultural mindset, values, way of life, intellectual capacity and such many other things, the reality of harmony and soundness will always be a dream if there shall be no meeting point or agreement of common interests. SUCs are training ground for individuals, a place of learning, honing, specializing the knowledge, skills and wit. The idea of isolating SUCs from the practice of bad politics internally or externally will always be a dream, but the keeping in mind of the historical view of the ”Academic Freedom” right, which scholars have fought through the times, the free-thinking of man, the Independence of Thoughts, the Reasonability of Decisions, that has something to do with harmonious relations with his surroundings without losing himself, is the paramount goal of achieving satisfaction of one’s inner self. Our education system is molded largely by the American Education System, the book espouses the problems encountered in higher education system in the United States. Even though not totally yet resolved, the “opening eye” or awareness generation that there were dilemmas and deep rooted corruption paved way for the publication of this literature is truly helpful for scholars and researchers. The relevance of points, lessons to be learned and awareness to same and possible scenario that transpired, was transpiring or will transpire, may paved way for the institution of integrity systems in state funded higher educational entities, which will be further be established by this paper.

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4.4. Corruption Prevention in the Philippines

Corruption holds back growth and progress to lift people out of poverty [14]. Corruption wastes general public’s resources that came from the hard-earned money or labor for work by its people, be it professional or skilled. The Commission on Audit estimated around 2 billion pesos was the cost of this ill-embedded system, or about 25% of the annual budget [15]. It was corruption that hinders government’s capacity to deliver basic services especially to the poor – who are vulnerable sectors [16]. Corruption is a governance and social issue. It destroys the trust and confidence of the public to government institutions. A systemic/institutionalized corruption in Philippine governance is a reflection of poor internal control in its procedures and processes. A reason for the incapacity of government institutions to implement a policy that exists, if there is a policy at all, is because some erring employees find a chance for corruption to become prevalent. Rules and Regulations without clear demarcation as to authority and effective monitoring and evaluations mechanisms, gives power to officials which can lead to loss of public funds [17]. The study of theory will help the Corruption Prevention Practitioners check on the root causes of corruption and design effective corruption prevention projects and pro- grams. Reform initiatives can be at its best if such are grounded to theoretical and empirical principles. Theory of Corruption Prevention is an informed guess of the source of corruption and the needed approach to address it. International best practices provide critical lessons in strengthening corruption prevention practice. Hand in hand, the foun- dations of theoretical approach and experience in the implementation of corruption prevention audit tools shall help in the sustainability and development of the field [18]. Corruption Prevention practice in the Philippines at its early stage had many chal- lenges, among which are the lack of research/study on the subject area; academic expertise and specialization in governance setting; compilation of specific good gov- ernance habits; management of knowledge sharing and data banking; etc. This is the reason why academicians and practitioners should merge their varying/unique experiences and exposure to the study of root causes of corruption and the corruption prevention practice in the country. The experience of those who took a course in Corruption Prevention and practiced it at such person’s work place could be generated; gathered or documented that can serve as empirical inputs in generating theories to explain the challenges and opportunities in such field of specialization.

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The past years have seen a surge of anti-corruption efforts. The increase in the number of anti-corruption stakeholders is unprecedented. There is no shortage of lessons that can be learned from different anti-corruption crusades. However, it has been observed, according to an article published by the Career Executive Service Board in 2005, that lessons are not well articulated and even internalized, hence stakeholders in the fight of corruption fails to address the incidents of such. The levels of anti- corruption initiatives are international, national and local encompassing the boundaries of the private-public divide [19]. Corruption prevention programs are effective if it is both theoretically sound and empirically grounded. Efforts cascading and implementing a corruption prevention pro- gram can be successful if government agencies can analyze corruption utilizing appro- priate theories, learn from best practices, develop strategies and faithfully implement the anti-corruption measures according to peculiarities of the subject office [20]. The time after the Marcos Regime had passed and the democratic institutions were again installed by former President Corazon C. Aquino, she released Administrative Order (AO) 278 [21]. According to the AO, responsibilities encompass the examination and evaluation of the adequacy and effectiveness of internal control and the quality of performance. Subsequent issuances were released by the Executive Branch to face lift the work and services in the government. Executive Order No. 605 [22], was issued by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and it talks about promotion and enhancement of public sector performance through the adoption of ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management Systems in all agencies of government; development of an institutional infrastruc- ture that shall provide certification with international accreditation; establishment of the citizens’ charter of key government offices that shall be provided to the trans- acting public as government’s manifestation of service guarantee; and recognition of citizen-driven government organizations that have attained ISO 9001:2000 certi- fication for other government agencies to emulate.The Integrity Development Action Plan (IDAP) of the defunct Presidential Anti-graft Commission (PAGC), on the other hand, anchored on Chapter 21 of the government’s Medium Term Philippine Devel- opment Plan, which embodies the multi-pronged strategy involving 22 specific and doable measures under four major areas of implementation – graft prevention, educa- tion, deterrence and strategic partnership. This has been adopted as the national anti- corruption framework of the executive branch under Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in line with her program of countering corruption through integrity development and good governance. Section 2(g) of Executive Order No. 531 [23].

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Under the mandate of the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) is the function Corruption Prevention, the Public Assistance and Corruption Prevention Office is the implementing office of such [24]. The creation of reports regarding agency analysis framework, systems study, corruption vulnerable assessments, integrity development review and the integrity management program was done by the Bureau of Resident Ombudsman (BRO), headed by a Director and a group of graft prevention and control officers, who are trained in different kinds of corruption prevention tools. The trainings and exposure of these corruption prevention officers to corruption prevention tools implementation are culled from the OMB’s General Appropriations Act budget or from foreign devel- opment aid funders like the European Union, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, etc. To date, the OMB is under organizational restructuring program, to strengthen the function of corruption prevention the Research and Special Studies Bureau and the Bureau of Resident Ombudsman shall in the future be named Corruption Prevention Bureaus A and B. President Benigno Simeon Aquino issued Executive order No. 171 series of 2014 [25] organizing and ensuring the successful implementation of the UNCAC and demon- strates the Philippines’ strong commitment to the observance of international norma- tive standards, as it is necessary to establish an appropriate multi-stakeholder mech- anism or body to carry out the effective implementation, monitoring and review of all the initiatives to achieve the noble goals of the UNCAC according to its “whereas” clause. Executive Order no. 176, series of 2015 [26], on the other hand, implements the harmonized version of the OMB’s Integrity Development Review (OMB-IDR) and the defunct PAGC’s Integrity Development Action Plan (PAGC-IDAP) which is now called the Integrity Management Program (IMP). OMB-IDR, is a project funded by the United States Aide for International Develop- ment (US-AID), to roll out an anti-corruption plan spearheaded by the Office of the Ombudsman to a participating agency. The OMB-IDR has two phases which includes the Integrity Development Assessment or IDA with ten dimensions; the second phase, on the other hand, is the Corruption Vulnerability Assessment (CVA), where the IDR Assessors chooses at least three critical agency operations processes and conducts a process mapping of the each chosen transaction in such agency [27]. IMP now is the new corruption prevention tool of the National Government and continues to develop thru its implementation and pilot testing of its component phases in different participating government agencies (Included and Voluntary) [26].

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4.5. SUCs and corruption prevention

Schools, Universities and Colleges (SUCs) are composed of people and we cannot discount the fact, once there was a group of individuals coming from different back- grounds, motivations, cultural mindset, values, way of life, intellectual capacity and such many other things, the reality of harmony and soundness will always be a dream if there shall be no meeting point or agreement of common interests. Agreement of common interests comes - laying cards on the table and picking what best suits anyone’s viewpoint - compare to others and finally make it possible to carry out the same end goal. On the contrary, even though there’s meeting of the minds, ones individual racio in a sense is impaired because he had a compromise or he has to bend some of his thoughts just to harmonized scenarios in times of conflict or disagreement. The thing to ponder, is why did the person gave in, what are further motivations, what should be my backup plan if ever for purposes of ”meeting at the center” comes no full agreement at all and the inner state of mind of any of the parties which may if things did not work well will mean cutting the ties, etc. Even though good faith is a long standing principle in legal parlance, presumption of regularity in the performance of official duties and functions is a known escape thought for most of those who commit mistakes, but most of all the ”I’m human only I’m subject to mistakes” principle will always come in handy to buck pass a failure of agreements whether in the planning, execution or monitoring stages of any undertaking. SUCs are training ground for individuals, a place of learning, honing, specializing the knowledge, skills and wit. SUCs is the home of human development. The state to have strong labor force that shall be the prime movers of economic wheels through SUCs should not just impart the required skills, knowledge and training, but the value of love of country, love of others, love of the environment, unselfish interests and other good morals, values, traits a future nation builder must have. But even though, this can be reminded and reinforced in a classroom setting, the environment students move within the walls of the SUCs and their entire stay in such institution if tainted with culture of corruption, the view that SUCs is the home of human development becomes the home of human destruction. Studies show that most of the country’s leaders came from the University of the Philippines, the country’s flagship university. Presidents, Vice Presidents, Senators, Members of the House of Representatives and Local Government officials have their tertiary engagements with UP. And the most recent alleged high corruption commis- sion by a high-ranking government elected official is all about the piled up cases

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against former Vice President Jejomar Binay, a graduate of the UP College of Law as well as the long-time favorite subject of ‘corrupt president and dictator’ former President Ferdinand Marcos, also from the UP College of Law. Former President Gloria Arroyo was an economics graduate of UP School of Economics and former Senate President Manuel Villar a graduate of the UP College of Business, the former being accused of large amounts of corrupt acts during her stay in the 10 year period, and the latter being accused of conflict of interests due to his role as a government official and a real estate developer. Not only in the country’s flagship university come those graduates that have been involved in corruption. Most of the career and middle managers in government service are graduates and professionals from PUP, PNU, RTU, TUP and EARIST, and they have been part of large scale corruption, but not judging them to be “by nature are corrupt officials” but maybe they are just ‘pushed to the wall’ given instructions by their high ranking officials to do, not just ‘petty small corruption’ but ‘technical corruption’ which most of the time, these officials can get around the technicalities of the legal play in the courts. The idea of isolating SUCs from the practice of bad politics internally or externally will always be a dream, but the keeping in mind of the historical view of the ”Academic Freedom” right, which scholars have fought through the times, the free-thinking of man, the Independence of Thoughts, the Reasonability of Decisions, that has some- thing to do with harmonious relations with his surroundings without losing himself, is the paramount goal of achieving satisfaction of one’s inner self. SUCs is the victim of the bad politics epidemic that continuous to poison societies. If it shall not cure itself, then it will continue to spread the strain or virus that shall be rooted as part of the norms and values of any civilization, in the end after building an empire, the history will repeat, that ”all that was built, all will come to rubbles and again build so that there will again be rubbles to start building again”, the changing and curing the problems must start in the SUCs. Ill motives, self interest, self preservation, self praise are sensitive issues for an individual, the individual who comprise of the organization of individuals. SUCs should be freed from corrupted systems, but no one will ever say that they are corrupt, and they will always say no to corruption. Before a dilemma maybe resolved, acceptance of realities and realization of the problem should first be done. Doing a self-assessment with the help of trained technical officers should be employed by SUCs to determine whether the systems and procedures in place are less vulnerable to corruption. After assessment, then SUCs can now think of ways how to make it zero-vulnerable to

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corruption and with that - it is a very strong call or signal - telling the society - be awakened of our initiatives - we are not perfect but we are learning - we will not stop learning and think of ways how to resolve problems for that is the essence of the existence of SUCs - a never ending learning and making lives better. Meeting at the center/compromise should not be equated to fitting the bad practice into the legalities. Cover up of corruption should not be a practice of just putting up a news for good publicity of any entity or person, but in reality the rot continues to smell which no one can hide it. Public perception will always be a gauge of corruption in the government, but the best way to put it, is for the government to communicate well and be transparent in all its dealings, be always in the mood of learning and changing for the best. Government funded SUCs should be the model of highest level of good public management or governance - it should always be in the forefront of developing the country by producing quality graduates who adheres to its noble mission, vision and principles.

5. Results and Discussion

• Anti Corruption Laws applicable to SUCs:

The 1987 Philippine Constitution had various provisions self-executing and non-self- executing that needs an enabling law on anti-corruption which are as follows:

1. Article II which is a state policy against political dynasties, freedom of information and promotion of integrity and honesty in public service [29] and XI – Account- ability of Public Officials;

2. Revised Penal Code Title VII- Crimes committed by Public Officers: Articles 203 to 245;

3. Republic Act No. 6713 – An Act providing for the Code of ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees

4. Republic Act No. 3019 – The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act

5. Executive Order No. 292 – The Administrative Code and CSC Omnibus Rules and Regulations

6. Republic Act No. 7080 - Plunder Act

7. Republic Act No. 9160 – Anti-Money Laundering Act Law

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8. Republic Act No. 9485 - Anti Red Tape Act

9. Republic Act No. 9184 - Government Procurement Reform Act

10. And other laws pertaining to acts of SUC officials like the Republic Act No. 8292 Higher Education Modernization Act and their Charters.

• Letters were sent for an interview of key focal person on good governance – updates and follow up are still in process

• UP, PUP, RTU, TUP, EARIST and PNU have in their websites the Philippine Trans- parency Seal Compliance. Good governance initiatives are limited to posting of:

1. Mandate and Charter

2. Annual Procurement Plan

3. Bidding Announcements

4. Report of Unliquidated Cash Advances

5. Employee and Officials Statement of Assets, Liability and Networth compliance

6. Posting of Citizens Charter

7. Operations Manual

6. Conclusion

• Limited information are available to the public regarding large scale or small scale corruption in Philippine State Colleges and Universities available in the internet, due to cover-ups, which is a time immemorial practice, not to put shame and put image-taint to the institution as a whole.

• Different oversight and regulatory government agencies who has concurrent jurisdiction on complaints against SUC officials and employees are existing.

• Seriousness of institutionalization of grievance machinery, reform of grievance procedures and patent politically driven appointment of Grievance Committee members, where issues of independence to carry out a fair decision are ques- tionable

• Filing of usual complaints are harassment cases to some Academic disputes in SUCs

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• Good governance values are sometimes becoming “for compliance purposes” of existing directives

• Good governance reporting of the sample SUCs are only limited to posting in their websites of the Transparency Seal requirements.

• Some apprehensions on results of a corruption prevention roll out, exposing the weak systems and corruption vulnerabilities of a government office or a SUC in this case.

• Weak appreciation of the long term benefits of institutionalization of integrity systems

• Comfort Zone syndrome, resistance to organizational change/development

• Students would normally rather not say that their school officials or teachers corrupt in a survey, due to fear of being identified and be placed in a “hot spot”

General conclusion: SUCs is the home of human development. The effective lead- ership/management, proper obedience on procurement laws and efficient Human Resource Management System are keys to deliver its primary role in nation building. The concept of New Public Management Principle and the use of Corruption Prevention tools will result to perception, brand and reputation that an “Integrity SUC that produces Integrity Graduates and Professional for nation building and development is the very home of human development, and man achieving his aim for its existence.

7. Recommendation

• Report of actions on good governance practices must be communicated to stakeholders of the SUCs

• CHED as a sitting representative in the SUCs’ Board of Regents/Trustees should devise a system or procedure how to entrap and run against perpetrators of cor- ruption (past, present and future) in SUCs and be a complainant in any corruption case

• A survey study on the values obtained or exit experience survey of students upon graduating in SUCs conducted by an independent or private university.

• Nationwide corruption prevention awareness and appreciation communication drive by oversight agencies.

• SUCs being home of human development must publish research on good gov- ernance practices and development of corruption prevention practice that could

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be disseminated across bureaucracy and will always be readily available as ref- erence and start point for another research or establishment/development of innovation theories in public administration.

8. Author’s Note

Mr. Santiago is working full time as a Graft Prevention and Control Officer II at the Office of the Ombudsman, Republic of the Philippines. He started his career as Clerk III in 2005 and after finishing his Masters eventually promoted to the position he is at present handling. A true “iskolar ng bayan” he finished his Bachelor in Business Administration Major in Marketing in 2003 as Cum Laude and Master’s Degree in Public Administration in 2007 at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila. He finished his Bachelor of Laws in 2013 at Philippine Law School and at present on his 2nd to the last term at De La Salle University Taft Manila pursuing his Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies as a DLSU St. Lasalle Partial Scholarship grantee. He also teaches part time at the Department of Political Science, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila

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[25] WorldWideWeb Text. Executive Order No. 171 series of 2014 entitled: “Creating An Inter-Agency Committee To Oversee The Review, Implementation And Monitoring Of The United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) http://www.gov. ph/2014/09/05/executive-order-no-171-s-2014/ [26] WorldWideWeb Text. Executive Order No. 176 series of 2015 entitled: Institu- tionalizing The Integrity Management Program (Imp) As The National Corruption Prevention Program In All Government Departments, Bureaus, Offices, Agencies, Including Government-Owned And -Controlled Corporations, Government Finan- cial Institutions, State Universities And Colleges, And Local Government Units Through The Establishment Of Integrity Management Systems (IMS)” http://www. officialgazette.gov.ph/2014/12/01/executive-order-no-176-s-2015/ [27] www.ombudsman.gov.ph>ReferencesTab>IntegrityDevelopmentReviewReports [28] WorldWideWeb Text. Executive Order No. 176 series of 2015 entitled: Institu- tionalizing The Integrity Management Program (Imp) As The National Corruption Prevention Program In All Government Departments, Bureaus, Offices, Agencies, Including Government-Owned And -Controlled Corporations, Government Finan- cial Institutions, State Universities And Colleges, And Local Government Units Through The Establishment Of Integrity Management Systems (IMS)” http://www. officialgazette.gov.ph/2014/12/01/executive-order-no-176-s-2015/ [29] Sections 26, 27, and 28, Article II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution

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